The timing is no accident, according to Ridgecrest Animal Control Supervisor Sgt. Mary Stage. “Basically this time of year shelters are overloaded with cats and kittens. We are pretty much inundated.”

Consequently, the shelter is offering a special. A reduced adoption fee of $35 covers a health exam, FVRCP and rabies vaccines, a microchip and a spay or neuter. The special is good through the month of June or until funding subsidies run out. Adoptions normally cost between $75 and $90.

Potential adopters are thoroughly checked out.

“There’s an application process,” Stage said. “We encourage those who rent to notify their landlords.” No cat hoarders need apply. “We also do a home inspection make sure the home is not collecting cats and kitties and that its a clean and healthy environment.” Once the potential adopter passes muster, the cat is spayed or neutered and the owner can pick up their new pet at the vet.

Stage said the shelter has about 90 cats right now. “People tend to focus on kittens but we have adult cats, too.

“We are also looking for foster homes to raise Mama cats and babies,” she said. Right now, for example, the shelter has roughly 40 kittens waiting to be fostered.

“This is the maternity ward,” Stage said, leading the way to a room with several litters of kittens ― with and without mother cats. “These are all the kittens we need foster homes for.”

As adorable as those kittens are, they are too young to be adopted. Legally you can’t adopt out an animal until they’re eight weeks old, Stage explained. Fostering is important for the kittens’ social development. At the animal shelter, “they don’t get the socialization they need.” The shelter prefers to place young kittens (and their moms) with foster families until they are old enough to adopt.

“We try to place mom and babies as well as kittens that have come in without a mom,” she said.

Potential adopters can visit the kittens at their foster home. Stage said the shelter prefers to adopt the kittens directly from their foster homes without them having to enter the shelter.

Potential foster families go through the same extensive application process as people adopting pets. Stage added that the shelter can provide supplies but that most fosters choose to donate.

The shelter also offers “senior citizen discounts,” Stage said. She added that the Humane Society has programs to help seniors with some vet bills, whether the cat is a shelter cat or not.

The Ridgecrest Animal Shelter is a division of the Ridgecrest Police Department. Although the animal shelter and the Humane Society are separate organizations, Stage said, “we work very closely together. Our mission is the same, to end euthanasia.”

Page 2 of 2 - The Ridgecrest Animal Shelter also adopts out dogs.

For more information contact the Ridgecrest Animal Shelter at 760-499-5190 or visit their Facebook page.